First 'Star Wars' Film Celebrated in 40 New Short Stories

A long time ago in a galaxy not very far away, the "Star Wars" saga was born!

It's been 40 years since the first "Star Wars" film invaded movie theaters nationwide, and the fun is still far from over. Three trilogies, a handful of spin-off series and countless works of fan fiction later, there's just no end in sight to the stories of the "Star Wars" universe.

Written by a selection of 43 all-star authors, these 40 short stories reimagine moments from the original film through the eyes of the less significant, supporting characters, like the Stormtrooper who bumped his head on a door and the creatures that lived inside the Death Star's garbage mashers.

During a panel discussion at New York Comic Con on Oct. 7, Lucasfilm Story Group member and contributing author Pablo Hidalgo said that his favorite story in this new collection is one by Mallory Ortberg that is "essentially a report to H.R. from Admiral Motti" following a heated meeting with high-ranking Imperial staff aboard the Death Star. In the story, titled "An Incident Report," Adm. Conan Antonio Motti vents his frustrations about having to work with Darth Vader.

"Whatever conclusions you ultimately draw about the incident taking place between myself and Lord Vader during yesterday morning's briefing, he was wrong," Motti says in the story. "Trying to crush someone else's windpipe doesn't make you any less wrong, if you're wrong to begin with. Which he was. I do not concede the argument."

Another piece in the anthology focuses on Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, a band that performed at Chalmun's Cantina on Tatooine, a planet with two suns. Written by the author and podcaster Mur Lafferty, the story offers the perspective of one of the members of the band, all of whom come from the alien planet Bith. "If you read about the Bith, there's nothing in their physiology that makes you think Tatooine is anywhere they would ever, ever want to go," Lafferty said during the panel.

"Tatooine was the worst place in the galaxy for Bith," the story reads. "When your skin is milky white-pink and your eyes are lidless and tearless, a planet with two suns, high heat and blowing sand is essentially a jail sentence. When Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes got a gig on this planet, we all protested."

Another tale written from the perspective of a strange-looking alien is "The Secrets of Long Snoot" by Delilah Dawson. This piece focuses on the Imperial spy Garindan ezz Savor, also known as Long Snoot.

As a human chastises Long Snoot, insulting his intelligence and appearance, Long Snoot says, "Know what your problem is? …Your problem is that your entire species thinks itself a sun around which the petty planets and moons spin, but really, you're just another rock, doomed to ever orbit something grander but remain ignorant of your own insignificance."

Other short stories in the anthology delve deep into the roles of characters like Capt. Raymus Antilles, Boba Fett, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker's Aunt Beru and many, many more.